中美英雄对比 英语论文

中美英雄对比 英语论文 Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science I Introduction Hero is a somewhat subjective concept. It generally refers to someone whose ability is beyond the ability of ordinary people, they can lead common people to do something meaningful. Of course, heroes also have their own distinct characters, which are different from nations, countries or regions and so on. In spite of different personalities of heroes, hero worship exists almost in every type of culture. Heroism, result of hero worship, represents special social cultural pursuit of a culture and to some extend influences the development of a society. However, the definition of the social value of heroism differs with cultures. In this thesis, the author attempted to analyse the hero image of Hiccup in movie How to train your dragon so as to discuss the characters of American hero. By this way, we are available to have a better understanding about their values and outlook on life. In addition, by comparing the similarities and differences of heroism in both America and China in detail, we will have a more profound understanding about the cultural differencise between China and America. - 1 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science II Literature Review Previous scholars have made a concrete explaination about heroism and have a brief introduction about its background. 2.1 Definition of Heroism Along with the progress of human civilization, the understanding of heroism has been formed into two aspects. One is the humanitarian spirit values gradually took the place of the past narrow nationalism, nationalism and racialism values. Heroism has a wide range of significance about mankind spiritual. On the other hand, on behalf of many kinds of culture and different national values, the heroism of different countries in mutual collisions have been constantly understanding and learning from each other. Heroism with the trend of human unity and other various cultural values will always be a pair of contradiction. The United States as a representative of western culture system promoted their cultural values with its strong economic strength. To speak more specificly, that„s to advocate the concept of American heroism and shape touching hero image to establish the leading position of western culture .As the globalized world today, in addition to the economic strength, it‟s more important to emphasize cultural diversity and the coexistence of various values. The view above is from a British writer named Carlisle in his book The heroes and the hero worship. He did a simple elaboration about poeple„s understanding to the heroism today so as to emphasize the significance of cultural diversity and coexistence of different values. Well, the author‟s opinion is just consistent with my writing purpose. This thesis is based on the contrast of the American hero and Chinese hero to discuss western values and their outlook on life, so that we can better understand the western culture, their way of thinking and their belief to strengthen the ideological exchanges between Chinese and western and promote the fusion of their values. - 2 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science 2.2 Background of American Hero In The hero complex in American film, the author Zhou Xiaoling claimed that heroes are the product of group life. As early as ancient times, somebody outstanding in intelligence or in physical strength would appear as pioneer when people felt powerless in front of nature. Among these leaders, those who are superior in character than the ordinary people can be crowned by the title of “hero”. The emergence of the hero came as the public psychological worship to hero, the dreaming of supernormal ability and the desire to succeed. In everyone‟s inner heart, there is a deep hero complex and worship or yearning to the hero which no doubt can cause our resonance. Film is undoubtedly one of the most powerful art forms. Hollywood as the American “dreamworks” has been constantly weaving a variety of fascinating dreams from the day it began to work. “The hero myth” is without doubt one of the most successful and traditional dream modes. Countless heroes came out from the screen, their behaviors have been widely known, hero complex has become one of the distinct characteristics in American movies. Zhou Xiaoling eludicated the reason about the yearing to hero and enabled us to understand mass psychology to hero worship. In the article The basic conditons of super civilian hero in American film, the author QiJin argued that “superman”, “spiderman” and “swordsman” these three series of film title are translated as “man”, can be called Hollywood “SanXia” movies. While, in these movies, heroes have supernatural ability, at the same time are ordinary people in daily life, so it can be called them super “civilian hero” with supernatural power. The three films has striking consistency in the literature source, building common American modern myths. America‟s “SanXia” movies are adapted from cartoon, as modern myth persuiting perfection of human, reflect people‟s deep potential conscious and unconscious. Why “civilian hero” movie like “SanXia” series in Hollywood are so popular? To explain this, we should get to know about the society and several historical events of the United States. The scholars argued that the appearance of this kind of film is closely related with its national unconscious existing deeply in the United States. So to speak, because of the unconscious desire to - 3 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science the civilian hero among American people, this type of film is provided for a good opportunity to occupy the marketing. The pursuit of American with deep personal heroism complex and affirmation to each individual‟s value render the appearance of “civilian hero” movie. The author mainly analyzed the background and foundation of the born of its civilian hero, presenting a good reference to understand the civilian hero complex in the United States. Previous scholars have researched people‟s psychology to the hero worship and the background and forming reasons of heroism plot in America. So in this paper, the author will focus on comparing the differencies in both Chinese hero and American hero, instead of the reasons or background about the formation of hero. Heroism in human society has a long history, it has, in fact, already become a kind of cultural phenomenon which can reflect the basic ideology of eastern and western. Such as Chen duxiu pointed, “western nation lay emphasis on individualism and fighting, by contrast, the security of country and family peace is in the top priority of Oriental nation ”, In this paper, the author attempted to analyse the hero image of Hiccup in movie How to train your dragon so as to discuss the characteristics of American hero, by this way, we are available to have a better understanding about their values and outlook on life. In addition, through the comparison between Chinese hero image and American hero image, we are able to get distinct identities of values and views both in China and the United States, thereby to have a more profound understanding about the cultural differencise between China and America, or even between eastern and western. - 4 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science III Analysis of Hero Image in How to Train Your Dragon In order to get to know about the characteristics of American hero we should analyse a specific American hero as the example. During the analysis process, the author try to from three aspects to analyse the hero Hiccup, as follows: firstly, Hiccup‟s growing background, then it‟s Hiccup‟s personality, the last it‟s his interpersonnal relations. 3.1 Hiccup’s growing background In the film how to train you dragon, the Viking tribe is living in a tough environment, where is cold, lack of food and barren landed, and they are natural habitants living by hunting and fishing. When refer to how to deal with the relationship with natural communication, the best method is still conquer. When talking about the great Viking spirit, Hiccup‟s father, Stoick, as the leader of the tribe, stated that the Viking warrior spirit is strong enough to crush mountains, bare forests and flat sea. With the ethical values of human centralism, the Vikings believed that they are the only subject and the slaughter of the nature. They are proud of their strong power. A huge shape and thick hair are the characteristics of strong Viking warriors, and their armor, helmet, sharp axe and big iron hammer and so on is the flag presenting their great power. Therefore, according to this standard, Gangly Hiccup is considered to be lack of the characteristics of the Viking warrior, for he is not full of muscle and seems to lack of courage and honor. Hiccup's father is a strong and mighty leader, however, his son is thin and small, a very alternative boy. Under the background of the Vikings ancient view that power is everything, dragon become must be conquered object for the Vikings. Killing dragon has been a traditional culture passing down from the generation of the Vikings. The dragon has been put on a label of dangerous in their ancient books. Young people all were tought that dragon must be slaughtered. Their - 5 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science definition to hero also make a profound influence, to their cultural tradition, thus, those who can fight with dragon and successfully kill dragon is credited as the Viking warriors. As the son of the Viking leader, Hiccup should set an example to take the lead to become a Viking warrior honored by his people. However, either from the appearance or inner part, Hiccup is not compatible with a Viking warrior. A thin body can not fight with the fierce dragon, what‟s worse, Hiccup would bring unexpected troubles in the battle from time to time, so his father and other people in the tribe never hold out any hope on Hiccup, even are a little bit disappointed. They would fight with dragon rather than stay to take care of Hiccup. In general, Hiccup just like a square peg in a round hole, .growing up in different surroundings. Though he looks weak, does not like a Viking warrior of strong body, in the harsh living conditions, Hiccup still has exercised out resolute and unyielding character. Although Hiccup did not fully accepted the view that Viking warriors should be strong and brave enough to kill dragon, also influenced by it, such as great courage and superior judgment. 3.2 Hiccup’s Personality Hiccup‟s living environment contribute to his indomitable and fortitude character, view about the brave Viking warriors led to his great courage and observant insight. Now let‟s make a brief analysis about Hiccup‟s personality. First of all, he is very clever and has strong practical ability. He is good at using his mind to invent many kinds of instruments, which prove that he is a diligent thinker with a pair of practicable hands. Every time when people are in fighting with dragons, he will always use himself-made instruments trying to help his people, but mostly they are failed, and sometimes even do a disservice. From this point we can see that Hiccup is not a rigid person, he won‟t blindly obey what others told him what to do or just stay in situ. He is eager for a breakthrough and attempts to prove himself. This also helps to lay a fundation about Hiccup‟s shake and query on the traditional concept of the Viking warriors. - 6 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science Secondly, Hiccup is kind-hearted and nonconfirmed in stereotypes. When his knife stabed towards Toothless, he saw Toothless‟ eyes were full of fear and despair. In this moment, he hesitated and doubted that dragons were really ferocious and evil as they assumed. Finally, he gave up killing Toothless, and even feed Toothless with fish since Toothless had been hurt without ability to feed itself. Such actions would be absolutely incredible to people in the Viking tribe. Abandoning the old idea of dragon from his predecessors, Hiccup made a close contact with the dragon, Toothless, and understood the true nature of dragons. He formed his own idea to dragon, established a profound friendship with Toothless. They trust eath other, never desert the other part even in need. In additon the western culture just advocate the ability of self-practice and self–cognitive. There is no absolute authority and truth, no unchanged models. They dislike to stick in the mub, to obey blindly without any doubts. Finally, Hiccup was brave enough to challenge fixed idea, using his own perspective to get to know about dragons. In the film, Hiccup and Toothless fought with the final boss---a huge greedy dragon, which again shows his great courage. At the same time, he could lead his companies wisely to attack the weaknesses of the huge dragon, which also presents his special leadership and conducting faculty. In the western views, full of strategy, wise and leadership are all qualifies that a great man should possess. Especially in the election, such abilities are considered as the top priority. 3.3 Hiccup’s Interpersonal Relationship Hiccup‟s father is the leader of the Vikings with strong power, the Vikings‟ mission has been killing dragons. Every generated leader has the long-cherished wish to find the dragon‟s lair and eradicate it. However, his son, Hiccup as a thin and small boy, would never grow up as his father expected. Hiccup didn‟t not have such a surreal dream that one day he would be as strong and powerful as his father either. In such a background, the relationship between father and son was in a quandary, thus, both of them were eager for get the identity from the other part, but there was always a gap between them because of their different beliefs and personality. - 7 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science Even though Hiccup still hoped to prove his ability to his father. However, things always go contrary to one‟s wishes, instead of slaughtering a dragon, in a strange combination of circumstances, the young and inexperienced Hiccup became friends with a dragon, Toothless. His father was extremely disappointed with Hiccup after knowing the truth. When his father led people to smash the dragon‟s lair, the huge dragon was too strong to conquer and many people of the tribe had been badly hurt and felt scared. At this time Hiccup and his friends rode their tame dragons to help to fight with that huge dragon. This moment, his father seemed to understand something so that he released Toothless and let Toothless go back to help Hiccup. Finally, the huge dragon was defeated and all the people were saved. Hiccup made their people realized that all their previous views to dragons were totally wrong, dragons also can be very friendly and tractable. To try to get his father‟s understanding, instead of compelling his father to accept Toothless, Hiccup use another way to let the father know that Toothless also had its own lovely and justice aspects. On the other hand, in the critical moment Hiccup‟s father can also timely abandon the fix ideas having been passed from generation to generation and give support to Hiccup. So to speak, their relationship was rejuvernated by their mutual understanding and considering. What‟s this film advocated is mutual understanding in human beings and living harmony with nature. The final victory of Viking people was not achieved by force or violence, but can attribute to the union of all the Vikings plusing tacit cooperation of Hiccup and Toothless. It is thus clear that violence and force only can led to temporarily obedient and yield, while sincere love between people can obtain long harmonious. In Hiccup‟ life there was another important person, his lover, Astrid. Astrid was a frank, sincere, brave and was born with stubborn and competitive spirit of the Viking warriors. Having witnessed the good partner relations between Hiccup and Toothless, not only she put down the hostility towards Toothless, also became kind and friendly to Toothless, from this point we can see that Astrid was very considerate and thoughtful, she knew well that Hiccup was in a circumstances of contradiction - 8 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science and on the horns of a dilemma, so she gave the best support to hin. When Hiccup‟s father and people knew that Hiccup went close with a dragon, their hope to Hiccup from the top dropped down to the bottom There was nothing Hiccup could do but to helplessly watch his people risking their lives to fight with the huge dragon. At this moment, Astrid stood by him again when he felt dispirited and discouraged. Under the inspire of Astrid, Hiccup gained the courage to put himself up again to save his people. Astrid's good character and her firm belief and indomitable spirit also is undoubtedly became another bright spot of the movie. There is no deny that Hiccup‟s success is not only because of his courage to challenge stereotype, understandings and supports from his relatives, friends and lover also took a large proportion. - 9 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science IV Characteristics of American Hero In this paper, the author „s opinion is that the most conspicuous characteristics of American hero is the personal heroism. Personal heroism means a person who is divorced from the masses, believed personal power very much and to perform certain social mission using heroism thought and behavior. Seeing individualism for the principle, it exaggerated or discomfort local emphasis on individual in social life and the role of historical activities, denying people's power and wisdom. It shows that undeserved reputation, self-righteousness, prided himself on all as the characteristic. So the following three characters of American hero are all surrounded by personal heroism, to give a more detailed analysis on it. 4.1 Individualism Individualism, which has various explanations in the British Encyclopedia, is a moral, political, and social philosophy, emphasizing individual liberty, the primary importance of the individual and the “Personal Independence. Individualism is the core of the American culture. It focuses on the satisfaction of one‟s own desire and interests through self-reliance. The word individualism was first promoted by the French political reviewer Alexis de Tocqueville in his classical book Democracy in America published in 1835. As expounded in Tocqueville‟s book Democracy in America, Individualism has three meanings: Firstly, Individualism, as an aim of values, emphasizes on oneself is the aim of one‟s words and behaviors. “self” has the most important value and the society is only the method to realize “self”. Secondly, as a thought of political democracy, individualism opposes any intervention from authority, nation, collective or individuals. It put high value on the slogan of “free government” which leads to the spread of anarchism. Thirdly, as a thought of economy and possession system, individualism advocates sustaining private system of possessions. In American‟s social values, Equal opportunity and personal freedom are the basic foundation for every member of the society to achieve their self-fulfillment. And - 10 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science liberty and equality have the tightest link with Individualism, so Individualism is viewed as the basic social value for American people. In Habits of the Heart the author Robert Bellah, Richard Madsen pointed out that Individualism was the core of American value. Americans believed in personal dignity and the sacred rights which were inviolable. The value system of individualism is mainly seen in the following fields: individual is the center and core of all values; society is the means to the realization of personal goals in which individual is the only purpose; morally speaking, all men are created equal and each person is entitled to free choice of life style. Since the birth of individualism, it has been influencing American society and has penetrated into every aspects of American life. Individualists considered that the function of a nation was to supply service for individual development. The aim of the activities of human beings was self-interests even sometimes this self-centered system developed into egoism. Individualists advocated that one should live by his or her own lifestyle and it is one‟s personal rights to live without the correspondence to the conformity. There are obviously different explanations in the Catholic Encyclopedia: Individualism is not the opposite of socialism, except in a very general and incomplete way. Individualism is scarcely a principle for it exhibits too many degrees, and it is too general to be called a theory or a doctrine. It means that the individual conscience or the individual reason is not merely the decisive subjective rule; rather it has no objective authority or standard which is bound to take into account. In American society, different people have different understanding of Individualism. Most American believed that it is self-reliance, self-improvement, self-expression, the forces to personal success and social development. Benjamin Franklin was the successful representative of Individualism in the early American history. Benjamin Franklin who was born very poor, gained his success through his hard working which was considered the only way to wealth at that time. Americans have prized success through individual efforts. The heroes they have shaped, whether it is the white settlers expanding westward or American soldiers - 11 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science fighting overseas, police officers or firefighters, generally have similar traits: individualism. They are independent, self-confidence and have a strong will, and finally they achieve their goals and cherish their values. We can went back to the hero Hiccup in How to train your dragon. Tough Hiccup was influenced by the traditional tribe of the Vikings, when he met with Toothless, he didn‟t comply with the old rules to kill Toothless, but followed his own wishes to attempt to get on with Toothless. Finally, he found his own unique way to get on well with Toothless, thus, achieved his own wish and realized his goal. In this movie, individual spirit again has been fully represented. 4.2 Democratic Spirit To understand the democratic spirit of the American, we should have a brief talk about democracy. According to one definition, democracy is a political system in which all the members of the society have an equal share of formal political power. In modern representative democracy, this formal equality is embodied primarily in the right to vote. Democracy is a non-violent alternative to civil war. It involves the casting of votes to determine the winner of the side to govern the country. It can also encompass social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination. Based on the concept of democracy, democratic spirit highlights America's sense of social equality and mutual respect. Americans are anti-authorities, they neither obey to absolute authority, nor surrender under the authority of the leaders. From the colonial period, the pilgrims have put a strict supervision on their power. People have the freedom to put judgments on their leaders, anyone would without exception even those who are the president enjoying a high prestige and great honor such as Washington, Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Roosevelt Americans pay attention to working hard not empty talk. Early pioneer spirit has been passing down. To the Americans life is of survival and development, adapting and changing the environment, making it more suitable for their life. Americans believe that everyone can be someone and filled with practical spirit. Americans are inclined to legal reform not violent revolution. In hundreds of years of political of the United States, when divergences or branched were emerged, that would tend to settle them down by - 12 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science negotiation or national discussion. Democratic spirit is a spirit of pursuing freedom and equality. It is emphasis greatly in America. Today heroes are free from excessive political and social controls, and they have an equal right to express their own ideas and an equal chance for success. In the film called Milk, Harvey Milk was the first gay rights activist and politician in American history. He once said, “Politics is not important, win or lose, as long as you make an announcement, I'm in here, then they will receive attention.” He fought the right for gay people. So we can say American people have an equal chance to control their destiny and cherish their own values. This movie delivers a democratic spirit to us. Of course, in the film how to train your dragon also show us this typical American spirit. Hiccup didn‟t unquestionablely stick on the stereotype having existed from many years, but made a breakthrough to form a newly idea from dragons. On the other hand, the heroine Astrid also gave a fully respect and comprehension to Hiccup‟ standpoint after knowing the partnership between Hiccup and Toothless. 4.3 American Dream and American Spirit “I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right too, liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other. American spirit has an effect on how Americans live today. Someone who has pride and respect for our country and feeling in their heart is someone with American spirit. Someone who fight for their country, someone who is open minded, someone who goes out of their way to dress up to show their pride and patriotism.” The sentences above are quoted from a speaker‟s view about American spirit. I think it was a concise summarize to American spirit. Indeed, in many films, we can see that different heroes campaigned for freedom, or fight for evil, they were justice and upright men, and they never gave up. Then let‟s talk about American dream. What is American dream, everyone has his own conception. In my opinion, America dream is a popular belief that hard work will bring forth America's bounty in the form of material well-being. Whoever you are and wherever you were born, you only need to devote yourself to course or business, you will find the life‟s bounty. There is a proverb in china, which is “do not ask hero where he comes from.” So, the American dream tells us don‟t give up easily and do your best. As the films says: - 13 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science today is present and tomorrow is mystery. If you are going to act it now, you will have the chance to accomplish your dream. We used to connect American dream with American spirit together for their conception are mutual involved. In the early year of American history, many immigrants chose to leave the older European society because they believed that they had a better chance to succeed in America. Many people think highly of self-made men, because they have a spirit of struggling. Hollywood shapes a lot of civilian heroes, and anybody can be a hero like businessmen, lawyer, police officers, firefighters and doctors. They can achieve American dream if they work hard and keep going. Apparently we can find the trace of American dream and spirit from Hiccup. He has been struggling to fight with the huge dragon, to do all his best to make the other Vikings accepted his cognition about the real nature of dragon. The film finally ended with a warm-hearting and hopeful ending. Though Hiccup remained only one leg, meanwhile, Toothless merely has half tail, when they tow stood together, they seemed to make a complementary to each other. They were disabled, none would despise them or keep distance from them, on the contrary, they regarded them as their heroes. Their future still full of hope and wonder. With the future mindness, both Hiccup and Toothless and all Vikings would look ahead for their vigorous future. - 14 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science V Characteristics of Chinese Hero After analysing the characteristics of American hero, we know that the characters of American hero are mainly influenced by its individual spirit, independence and expected for freedom, which formed personal heroism view. However, the characters of Chinese hero are deeply influenced by collectivism and Confucian culture. In this part, the author will analyse three typical characters of Chinese hero. 5.1 Elegant and Affinity In China, due to a few thousand years of Confucian culture and the feudal autocratic monarchy, China's hero image on the film is the embodiment of justice, gentle and kind hearted. So to speak, almost heroes in China have the affinity-based character and are elegant type. Under the influence of Confucianism in China that is ceremonies, so most heroes of the movie looks gentle, not rough, scholars concentrated flavor, such as the Bai Li in Tiger et Dragon, Chong Linghu in Swordsman Such images meet people‟s traditional “refined” aesthetic standards. They are the typical types of elegant hero. On the other hand, China does not pay attention to the heroism of “conceit, but only I can do”, but believe in solidarity that all people are brothers under the earth, so the movie characters are the same as brothers and sisters next door, very friendly, very accommodating, in another word, they are all affinity Such as Wuji Zhang in Dragon by day, Tao in “way back, such as coax”, Xiaolan Ji in Iron Eloquent Ji Xiaolan, etc. 5.2 Sacrifice Spirit In many films, we can see that most heroes would sacrifice their individual interest for the interest of the country. Such as Huang Feihong---a great hero from China and Huo Yuanjia---a respectable patriot who fought till death before surrendered. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in - 15 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science something greater than themselves. In order to get a profound understanding to this sacrifice spirit we will make a brief introduction about our traditional culture ---- Confucian culture. Confucian culture spread far in China, which has been quietly affect the generations of Chinese people for thousands of years. Confucianism, which profound thoughts of moderation is its essence, the doctrine of the mean key lies in the “rite” and “benevolence”, namely, behave properly and make belief firmly in all things. It has three principles, firstly, self-supervision and self-taught, secondly, loyalty and tolerance, thirdly, the most sincere and the most love. Since the Han dynasty, Confucian, becoming the national orthodox ideology and people's behavior model, has been using by many rulers and flourished in every dynasty. Therefore, in this ideological and cultural background, people's psychological was affected naturedly, but psychological dominate behavior. So, the hero who created by the particular cultural environment, also get the recognition by people. Now it will be more easily to understand this sacrifice spirit in Chinese hero. 5.3 Ordinary Hero Another character of Chinese hero we now are going to talk about is collectivism. Compared to individualism, collectivism hero view was formed during the period of savage to civilization in human society step by step, and finally became spiritual values with collective consciousness. It belongs to the value judgment in ideology. It establishes specific figures those who has the lofty, solemn and stirring, defiant and enterprising character as example in social groups. The purpose into promote this social groups for the most perfect, the most noble, most represent overall interests ambitious targets in a particular period, and to call, encouraging and incentive social all men mimic the character, in order to achieve or complete the cause the ultimate goal. Moreover, from the geographical environment Angle, The birthplace of Oriental culture is China's Yellow River basin, where land is fertile and terrain is flat. The climate is very well, Suitable for developing agricultural production, So agricultural technology advanced and developed. Agricultural production process is complicated, - 16 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science need to cooperate, emphasizing harmony, and evolved the “collective heroism” which emphasize the collective wisdom. On the base of collectivism, China has always been particular about “people-based” thinking, the masses are the Foundation, so the movie characters are more ordinary people, and it is these civilians have dried out the earth-shaking things, such as the heroes of the Not One Less and Beautiful Feet - 17 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science VI Comparison Between Chinese Hero and American Hero A hero is the eternal topic of human. Its definition will be different with the change of nationality, culture, time, personal differences. Every culture could shape unique hero. Heroism is the fundamental and abundant source of force which will push continuously the historic progress, social development, and abundance of humanity. It is a kind of reflect about specific cultural pursuit .To a certain extent; it influences the development of human society Essence of hero is that when human face death, nature, society and various alien force that oppresses and distorts man, resulting in producing a positive and intense willing of life which has the courage to break through and fight the retreat. Because of this, hero worship comes into being and throughout human society. We can say heroism in promoting the development of human society has indelible influence. But heroism is not abstract and rootless exist. It needs to inoculate in specific realities, different cultural background and value system will portray a different type of hero. As we have analyzed, heroism roots in the fear towards death that results from living paradox. The essence of heroism is the irrepressible life force when human suffers from the oppression and distortion of all the alien forces. Therefore, from both the angles of physical demand and psychological demand, hero worship is universal among all the nationalities, which can be confirmed from the famous epics and legends. However, differences in economic and political systems entrust heroism distinc traditions and heroic trends. In the West, people have the greatest esteem for humanism and democracy. Even if the heroes are deified, the subjects are still human beings, who have feelings and emotions, and shortcomings all the time. In movies and plays, the pure and sincere humanity is extremely amplified. The heroes lay down their lives for honor and ideal, love and freedom. Even when the justice conflicts with the interest of the nation, they will resolutely select justice. Nevertheless, heroes are covered with a layer of idealism in Chinese culture. In - 18 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science the circumstance of altruism and nationalism in Chinese culture, what is extremely amplified is the loyalty and devotion to the nation and leaders, and the sacrifice of individuals. The heroes die for the interest of the country or community. Thus, heroes in China cannot have private desire. For thousands of years, rulers defined the concept and model of heroes, so heroes tended to be godlike, perfect and supernatural. Anyhow, the cultural communication of the West and East, not only promotes the development of plural cultures, but also brings humanity back to the motif of heroism. From the Chinese plays such as Drawn Sword, we can observe that heroes tend to be much more human. They are no longer deified as god but with human nature. They are also common people, have rich emotions and cannot help making mistakes sometimes. However, the distinction of collectivism and individualism as the measure of value still exists among the Western and Chinese culture. Individualists feel that the way to maximize human freedom and happiness is by abolishing not just the state, but all other involuntary relationships and organization as well. Collectivists on the other hand, often seem to view people as perpetual victims of an evil social system, which strips them of the ability to make choices and therefore frees them of all responsibility for their lives and problems At least we can know that the heroism in China cannot be divorced from the traditional social value to become an independent system. - 19 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science VII Conclusion Movies, as a quickly developed form of media, reflect the life of people. At the same moment, our lives are surrounded by the effect of movies such as the dress, the fashion, the language, and of course the spirit. Heroism is a kind of spirit that people gain from their heart. This kind of vital force characterizes an individual with self-confidence and courage. We observe that hero-worship is the eternal complex of human beings. People, no matter which nation they come from, harbor pious worship for heroes. From the angle of psychoanalysis, heroism is the original impulse and will. When human suffers from some alien forces or falls into dilemma, they dream to be heroes themselves or hope others to be heroes to deliver them from the abyss of misery. From the time immemorial, the complex of hero-worship is universal among all the nationalities. From the above analysis, we observe that compared with other means of mass media, works of movies and TV plays can reflect directly the ideology and social values. Therefore, with the popularity of “audiovisual culture”, the works of movies are a significant vehicle for ideas and cultures. Exactly, this thesis, though analyzing the hero Hiccup in movie How to train your dragon, makes a careful comparison between the Western and Chinese cultures. If it manages to make a comparative study of different cultures from a new angle, it achieves the author‟s original intention. - 20 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science Bibliography [1] Adams, Michael C. The Best War Eever: America and World War II [M]. New York: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994. [2] Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. [M]. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1949( [3] Crlyle，Thomas, Hero? Worship and the Heroic in History[M] .Boston: American Boston Ginn Company，1901. [4] Fishwick，Marshall William(American HeroesMyth and Reality [M] : Kansas: Public Affairs Press，1954. 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I am greatly indebted to Professor Sun Wanting for his allowing me to have access to his books pertinent to this dissertation. I also thank those who help me in course of the writing and whose names I can‟t list here one by one. - 23 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science - 24 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science - 25 - Undergraduate Thesis of Faculty of Foreign Studies Yangtze University College of Arts and Science - 26 -